Each week, AMN will publish a collection of reviews for any new Virtual Console software released that week. Below, check out reviews for this week’s new Virtual Console games.
Here’s an interesting one. The original Donkey Kong port for the NES is a dated debacle containing only 75% of the real game, yet its sequel Donkey Kong Jr. fared a tad better in the home translation process. Outside of a slight resizing of a few minor details, Donkey Kong Jr.’s gameplay translates over to the NES rather well. All four stages are intact and accounted for. All enemy sprites appear full size, and no frames were cut. The gameplay is completely intact, and the sound is improved over the arcade version’s dinky and muffled music and sound. It does lack one thing though: the opening animation. The “insert coin” sequence where DK is hauled away in a cage by the “evil” Mario was removed for….you guessed it, space limitations. The ending though is intact. So, this is not a perfect port, but it fared a heck of a lot better than its predecessor. If you want to play the beloved sequel to the original Donkey Kong, then this aspiring NES port is the best available for now, but if you want the real deal, it’s better to just hold out a while longer for the actual arcade game.
Victory Run was Hudson’s answer to Sega’s Outrun. Though similar in premise, Victory Run adds some Simulator elements into the traditional late 80’s/early 90’s arcade racing formula. You race your car across highways, deserts, savannahs, and coastlines under a checkpoint driven time limit with the traditional opposing generic cars and trucks on the road in a world where everyone is always driving the same direction as you. The catch is that your car can take wear and tear as you traverse the continent, so you must select the right parts to make the trip, lest the performance of your vehicle will deteriorate. Your parts fail, and you fail. For an early TurboGrafx title, Victory Run features some impressive scrolling effects, but it doesn’t look a terrible lot better than some NES games. The machine was capable of more impressive racers. You’re probably better off holding out for Sega’s Outrun to get your classic arcade racing fix.
When the Tetris bomb went off, it left a long trail of wannabes and look alikes, but some stand out, and have continued to stand the test of time. Columns is one of them. Taking the “matching color” element of Dr. Mario and converting it into what was then something new, you are tasked into lining up falling gems with three parts apiece. Each part is a different color. The gems can be cleared by lining up three of the same color vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Your choice. It helped set the stage for many successive color match based puzzles. Columns has a flare of its own. Since Tetris went with a Russian flavor, Sega gave the original Columns a Phoenician style in its presentation and music. Some people complain that the game speeds up way too fast, and that can make the difficulty curve a tad higher than most. Though visually simple, and most puzzle titles are, Columns is an immersive and addicting puzzler that is fun in single player, and even more in two-player.
Here we have a forgotten and overlooked classic that nobody seems to remember. Sega had been having on and off success with the attempts at making a “mascot family”. Sonic matched Mario. Toe Jam & Earl was doing good. There were some that people don’t even remember (Greendog anyone?), and some which people never saw in the first place. That brings us to Ristar. This is a platformer made by none other than the once mighty Sonic Team in 1995. It failed to garner attention because Donkey Kong Country had basically shut down Sega’s 16-bit fortunes. Ristar cannot jump as high as most mascot characters, but he can stay in the air longer. The gameplay hook is the player can make Ristar’s hands go in any of direction (except down) to grab an enemy and squeeze them against Ristar’s sharp body, destroying them. The game has that trademark Sonic 16-bit surreal art style, and flare. With six stages, and two bosses per stage, Ristar has plenty of gameplay for those 800 points, yet it must be mentioned that the game is also available in the Sonic Mega Collection as an unlockable, and the Sega Genesis Collection for PS2. This emulation is superior though, much like Sonic before it.
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